


Keep Holding On

by xLoveMx



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 8th year fic, A little bit of angst, F/M, Facebook: Harmony & Co., Harmony - Freeform, Hermione's POV, Post-War, fluff and feelings, going back to hogwarts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-06
Updated: 2020-05-06
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:08:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24039385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xLoveMx/pseuds/xLoveMx
Summary: There was a voice in the back of her head, telling her that this wasn’t how first kisses normally went, but then again nothing had ever really been normal with them.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Harry Potter
Comments: 12
Kudos: 119
Collections: Harmony For Essentials Gift Exchange





	Keep Holding On

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flourishing_Gardens](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flourishing_Gardens/gifts).



> This one is for Laney! Thank you for the essential work you do in this trying time and I hope that I can make you smile with a little bit of Harmony <3

Strangely enough, returning to Hogwarts wasn’t as hard as Hermione had expected it to be.

This was, and always would be, the place they had won the war, but also lost friends and classmates. Still, it had something weirdly comforting to fall back into a routine.

The whole castle had been restored, and apart for a plaque in the great hall with all the names of the fallen there wasn’t much left that reminded them of the battle.

The common room was a little emptier though, especially with Ron and Harry not being around.

Ron had sworn to never come back, and things hadn’t exactly been easy over the last couple of months. Hermione had reminded herself that he had lost his brother over and over again, and that it wasn’t her right to be frustrated with how he chose to grieve.

Still, it had been hard.

Harry hadn’t been sure whether or not to come back. They had talked about it a couple of times, but the ministry had offered him a position right away and Hermione didn’t have the heart to ask him to turn it down, just because she didn’t want to go back all by herself.

He had come to see her off at the station though, and Hermione might have hugged him a little tighter than it was normal between friends.

She had always been a little in love with him.

At first it had been adoration more than anything, then the joys of being friends with someone that accepted her for who she was. Someone she could trust. Someone who was willing to lay down his life for her.

Someone she was willing to do the same for.

It all sounded a little dramatic now, especially these days, but they had always kind of lived their lives with one foot in the grave, and now that things had slowed down, Hermione had found the time to think about all of it. How Harry would always be the first person she’d want to talk to, how she’d see something that reminded her of him on almost every street corner or in a shop window.

A love forged on the battlefield wasn’t necessarily one that stuck around, they had both learned that the hard way.

Surely, Ginny had coped with her brother’s death a lot better than Ron, but things still hadn’t worked out between Harry and her, and Hermione had felt bad for secretly being glad about it.

Now Harry was off somewhere with the ministry though, and Hermione was spending half of her charms class thinking about him. It wasn’t like she was missing anything, she knew all the spells anyways, but it wasn’t like her to not pay attention.

Shaking herself out of it, she focused her attention on Professor Flitwick again, who was attempting to teach all of the remaining students about the _Protean Charm_. She knew it by heart, and had since their 5th year, but it was a good distraction, nonetheless.

-

The next morning Hermione waited for a letter from Harry, staying at the breakfast table a little longer than she usually would. They had written back and forth a couple of times, and sometimes she wondered what it meant.

Ron hadn’t sent a letter, but then again, he never really had before. Harry, however, had started singing his letters with _Much love, Harry_ at some point, and the first time reading it Hermione had done a double take.

They had written about life at Hogwarts, and when Harry was going to start work for the ministry, and then about how much they missed each other, and at some point, Hermione had started signing her letters much the same.

It wasn’t like they had never talked about it. Back when they had been on the hunt for the horcruxes, the nights had been long and lonely, and Hermione had fallen asleep in Harry’s arms more than once.

With the possibility of death so clearly visible on the horizon however, being in a relationship had been the furthest thing from their minds, especially since both of them had been involved with other people at that time and then…well Hermione guessed they had just missed the right moment to actually talk this through.

She had kept telling herself that tomorrow was another day to talk about things, and then they had been on Platform 9 ¾ and the Hogwarts Express had taken off with Harry waving her goodbye.

“Everything alright?” Parvati had caught her eyes for a moment, offering a sympathetic smile. They all zoned out from time to time, she had seen Neville miss an entire class of Potions by staring at the nearest wall.

“Yeah, all good.” She quickly managed, taking one last look around the room, though all the owls seemed to have already delivered their letters. It had been a week since she had last written to him, and there had been no answer so far.

 _Maybe tomorrow._ Hermione thought to herself as she eventually gathered her things to leave.

-

There was no letter the next day, but Minerva stopped her in the hallway on her way to Herbology.

“Hermione, may I talk to you for a second?” She instantly knew that this wasn’t about school, or class, because while she still called her _Miss Granger_ during lessons, they had switched to first names whenever they were talking in private. It seemed silly not to after everything they had been through.

“Of course. What’s going on?” She asked, glancing up at the older woman. She seemed to have aged even quicker since the battle, the lines on her face deeper than Hermione had ever seen them.

“We have a student coming in. They…weren’t able to attend from the beginning of the school year. Things have been a little…well, chaotic here. Could you do me a favor and pick them up from the station?”

It wasn’t exactly how she had pictured her day going, but she was still _Head Girl_ after all. “Of course. Who am I looking for?”

“Oh, you’ll know. There’s just one student on the train, and now if you’ll excuse me. I have some first graders to teach,” She offered a smile before whooshing down the corridor, leaving Hermione to herself, wondering who she was picking up.

There weren’t nearly as many students at Hogwarts as there used to be, but she still wasn’t sure who was missing. Was it a new student? A first grader whose letter had gotten lost? Or someone else who had chosen to return a little late?

She spent most of the trip to the station wondering if it was even a student of Gryffindor House, or if Minerva had only sent her because she was sure that Hermione was trustworthy.

The train had already arrived when she got there. Looking around the platform, Hermione was trying to determine whether or not the student she was looking for had already excited or was still on board. There was no one on the far end of the platform, so she turned around to look the other way, when a familiar voice caused her to freeze in place.

“The brightest witch of her age is personally coming to pick me up? What an honor.”

Hermione’s heart missed a beat as she whirled around, fully expecting to have made up the voice, but when she eventually caught sight of him, he was leaning half out of one of the carriages, his lips curved into a grin, before jumping down onto the platform.

“Harry!” Her feet had already started moving and within seconds Hermione had thrown her arms around him in a hug, and he had caught her, as always.

The familiar feeling of his body pressed up against hers, the smell she had come to know to be so distinctively his, and just the overall emotional nature of their reunion made tears well up in her eyes.

“What are you even doing here?” She mumbled, pulling back. Before Harry could even respond, however, Hermione had slapped his shoulder hard, and then pulled him in for a kiss. There was a voice in the back of her head, telling her that this wasn’t how first kisses normally went, but then again nothing had ever really been normal with them.

“Kissing you, apparently?” Harry chuckle when they pulled apart, reaching up to push his glasses back up his nose.

“Sorry, I…” Hermione muttered, feeling the blush rising up in her cheeks.

“No, I just wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.” He then managed, still holding on to her.

“Yeah well. I wasn’t expecting you, so.” Hermione replied, poking his chest with her finger. “You haven’t written in a week,”

Harry chuckled again, nodding. “I know, but I was afraid that you’d somehow find out what I was planning, so I decided to just wait until I could surprise you,”

“I think that was an attempt at an apology, so it’s accepted.” She then responded with a chuckle of her own. “Are you staying?”

It was almost funny how her heart already seemed to know the answer before he nodded. “Yeah, all yours for the rest of the school year.” Harry then replied, and Hermione simply kissed him again, because maybe this wasn’t something they needed to talk about.

Because she had always been a little in love with him, and maybe Harry had always been a little in love with her, too.


End file.
